In his (performative) presentation Eero-Tapio Vuori discussed spectator-oriented performance. It is an umbrella concept which he uses in his own artistic work and teaching for all kinds of immersive, participatory, relational, and ritual performance, which tend to use the spectator as the main focus and orientation point of the performance. It includes performances for only one spectator, spectator meeting spectator performances, and, in general, performances that tend to involve the spectators’ bodies/minds in different ways. Frequently, no performers are involved at all, so, understandably, the emphasis is squarely placed on the changes in the consciousness of the spectators. This genre has grown rapidly since the turn of the millennium and is increasingly popular nowadays. It is thus one of the main directions in which the ever-expanding horizons of the theatre are growing at present. In his presentation Eero-Tapio Vuori first provided a brief general introduction to the concept and the genre of spectator-oriented performance. Specifically, he explained what it is and how it tends to work. Then, using several examples, audio-visual material and performative tasks for the audience, he tried to illustrate some of the key approaches used nowadays in spectator-oriented performances, such as interaction, participation, reframing, senses, immersion, experience, consciousness, encounter, intimacy, isolation, ritual, disposition, game, and utopia. The performative tasks for the audience were simple, voluntary and they were not allowed to involve any discomfort. At the end, Eero-Tapio Vuori discussed the obvious aspects of danger and the necessary safety structures involved in these performances.
Eero-Tapio Vuori is a theatre director, spectator-oriented performance creator and ritual artist. He has directed plays in the classical, contemporary, and experimental theatre scene in Finland and abroad. He is the founder of Reality Research Centre (2001), a Helsinki-based group of independent artists that share an aspiration to observe, question, and renew reality by creating interactive, participatory, immersive, relational, and ritualistic performances. Vuori’s latest work in Finland has been an adaptation of Stanislaw Lem’s Solaris, a single-spectator performance in a sensory deprivation tank (Kellumo, Helsinki 2020). He also regularly works with the Danish performance group helloearth! with whom he most recently co-operated in a night-in-the-hammock performance called A Night in the Trees (Liselund, Denmark, August 2021). Vuori has also done extensive research of indigenous ritual practices in Africa, Asia, South America, and Siberia. He was essential to the opening of the theatre department at the University of Eduardo Mondlane (Maputo, Mozambique). Vuori is currently a senior lecturer of directing at the Theatre Academy, University of the Arts, Helsinki, Finland. His main academic interests are (1) spectator-oriented strategies of performance, (2) interflow of art and consciousness, (3) ritual theatre and performance.